It's hard to keep up with how schools in Kansas might be funded.
First it was a debate over block grants. Now it's a new plan that's mostly based on graduate outcomes.
The new funding formula legislation is a result of months of meetings between Sen. Steve Abrams of Arkansas City, chairman of the senate Education Committee, and educators from around the state.
It would base funding on student population and factors such as poverty, something superintendents and school board members stressed was important.
But the bill also provides extra funding to districts whose students, among other things, are progressing through college, have an approved industry certificate or are in the military.
The plan would check on the students' progress two years after they graduate from high school.
The pilot program would start next year in the six Kansas districts granted innovative status by the state. Those districts hope to improve student outcomes through exemptions from some state regulations, such as how teachers are certified.
Under the bill, 100 more districts would be added to this new formula in the second year and all 286 districts by the third year.
Most educators at the hearing either backed the plan or were neutral.
The conservative Kansas Police Institute opposed most of the bill, saying the educational outcomes are not verifiable and success should be judged while a student is in school, not two years after graduation.
The plan would eventually replace block grant legislation, which the governor is expected to sign soon.
